VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Rome or Santa Marta?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’s own page.

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Rome 50, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Santa Marta 44: Rome leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Santa Marta 34: Rome leads by 65 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Santa Marta 50: Rome leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Santa Marta 38: Rome leads by 54 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Santa Marta 40: Rome leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Santa Marta 38: Rome leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Santa Marta 27: Rome leads by 45 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Santa Marta 17: Rome leads by 51 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Santa Marta 30: Rome leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rome and Santa Marta.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RomeSanta Marta

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeSanta Marta
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation21 m8 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSanta Marta
City population2,748,109505,915
People per km²2,1351,723
Museums within 10 km1783
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rome or Santa Marta somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.